[Desdemona]

Well, there's no evidence that he wasn't a widower, either.

[Delbert]

Theres also no evidence that he wasnt a running back for the Dallas Cowboys either, so we can just throw that in too.

[aruanan]

Well, there's no evidence that he wasn't a widower, either.

In the absence of evidence that he was, indeed, a widower, it's intellectually dishonest to posit that he was in order to support some other doctrine for which there is no evidence.

[sitetest]

Dear Desdemona,

There is very little about Joseph in the Bible. On the basis of the evidence in the Bible, one could say that Joseph was not previously married, or that he was. The Bible is silent on this point.

However, the Protoevangelium of James does record that Joseph was a widower with children. Here is a URL to an Internet copy of this document:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm

Of course, this document is not Sacred Scripture, but it is a very early document, from about AD 120 or so. So, St. Jerome was defending a very ancient teaching when he wrote against the heretic Helvidius.


sitetest

[aruanan]

As far as the perpetual virginity of Mary goes (which is why most people insist that the "brothers and sisters of Jesus" were children of Joseph from a previous marriage), this would have required that she never have sex with Joseph. But it's clear from Matthew that Joseph did, indeed, have sex with Mary. He just waited until after Jesus was born.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
--Matthew 1:22-25